Virginia Gives Gun Owners Lots of Leeway

A Chesterfield County mother accused of pulling a semiautomatic pistol from a holster in front of five students at a county bus stop cried before a judge Wednesday and declared, "I'm not no threat to nobody."Shiquita D. Reed, 33, pleaded to be released on bond; she faces five misdemeanor counts of brandishing a firearm.

Did you get that, misdemeanors!!!? I suppose the judge will just have to look into her history to see exactly how unstable she really is.

Reed has been charged with similar offenses in Richmond over the past several years, but most of the charges have been withdrawn or dismissed, court records show. In May 2010, Reed was charged with two counts of brandishing a firearm and a single count of brandishing a firearm near a school, but all three charges were eventually withdrawn by city prosecutors.Reed was charged with assault and battery in 2006 and grand larceny of an auto in 2007; those charges were also dropped. She was charged with assault again in 2009 and found guilty, and she received a 12-month suspended jail term, records show.After being found guilty in 2007 of disorderly conduct and obstruction of justice, she appealed to circuit court, where the charges were eventually withdrawn. In addition, she was indicted on a malicious wounding charge that same year but was acquitted of the offense after a bench trial.

Don't you find it alarming that a person like that can still have a gun? What are the gun-rights folks trying to accomplish by defending obviously unsafe people? Are the pro-gun crowd so afraid that stricter laws would affect them too?
If I were a gun owner concerned with gun rights, I'd be the first person calling for stricter enforcement of the existing regulations. People like Shiquita should not be allowed to own guns. That would not jeapardize the gun rights of others, it would safeguard them.
What's your opinion? Please leave a comment.